Reading the Alameda Journal’s follow-up, one might be lead to believe that the city council (ahem, the ARRA) was particularly negative about SunCal’s proposal at last Wednesday’s meeting. But re-watching the web video, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The meeting certainly had its share of ideas, concerns and “places to focus” which was of course the entire point of the meeting, but in the end, even Doug deHaan said that he was pleased with how the plans were progressing (specifically he was talking about the transportation planning of the project).
There were a few odd moments, bookended by comments at the beginning of the meeting by councilmember deHaan who claimed that the ~15,000 proposed jobs at the point were more than there ever were when the Navy was operating there and ending with Councilmember referencing deHaan’s comment as if it were a fact near the conclusion of the item. Beyond the fact that the comment wasnot really correct (the number ranges from 14-18,000 depending on the sources with most putting at 15K or above), it was most odd watching the council’s most gung-ho, commercial development over housing members actually start raising concerns that there might be too many jobs created.
A majority of the speakers spoke about how the project was moving forward in a positive direction, though they all cautioned that there’s a lot of work to be done.
Reading the Journal’s coverage, one was left with the feeling that overall it was a very negative meeting, but watch the tape, the council, sorry ARRA, was very complimentary overall.